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Thursday, August 6, 2015

PERHAPS the best thing that can be said of
Wednesday's stock market session was that the Straits Times Index
avoided a fifth consecutive loss, though this was likely via
short-covering than anything else.

TRADING activity here on Thursday will continue to take its cue from
the latest bout of corporate earnings released and see selective stock
plays.

Noble Group, which has been hogging the most actively-traded list,
could continue to see much interest on Thursday on news that it has fully redeemed the 2015 and 2020 securities, affirming its earlier assurances that it has sufficient cash to fund its bond redemption and operations.

The US$500 million 4.875 per cent senior notes due 2015 have been
fully redeemed on Aug 5, the scheduled maturity date, and there are no
2015 securities outstanding. The commodities group said it has also
redeemed in full US$235 million of the 6.625 per cent senior notes due
2020, on Aug 5, and there are no 2020 securities outstanding.

SINGAPORE's benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) opened higher at
3,192.49 at 9.02am on Thursday, up 1.1 points or 0.03 per cent. This
followed a rise in US stocks overnight after some technology companies
posted better-than-expected earnings and the US services-industry data
suggested that the economy was on track for faster growth.

Top volume stocks in early morning trading included CapitaLand which
was up 1.9 per cent to S$3.23 at 9.02am, and Noble Group which rose 1.8
per cent to 57.5 cents. EMS Energy jumped 4.8 per cent to 2.2 cents
while Jason Holdings was up 6.9 per cent to 7.7 cents.